or to cast a slur upon his professional reputation, but, having been accused by his lordship of having stated of him what was unmerited in my despatch, Í have felt obliged to enter into the subject, and trouble your Grace at more length than I could have wished in vindication of a report to your Grace in which I had strictly confined myself to that which I knew to be true. I had indulged in no observations whatever, or in any expressions, which could be viewed either as harsh or in any way grating to the feelings of his lordship. "I have, &c.,

"RAGLAN."

Why was this letter not produced before? The time to bring it forward was, not when it was required for the justification of Ministers, but when it was called for by the attacks on Lord RAGLAN. But in this case, as in every other, the home authorities acted either without judgment or with scandalous partiality. Lord HARDINGE alone comes out of the business in a creditable and honourable manner, having at once advised the recall of Lord LUCAN, and taken upon himself the responsibility of the step. The absurd defence of Lord LUCAN, at the expense of poor Captain NOLAN, we disposed of at the time; and we will here reproduce the observations which appeared on the subject in our December number :—

Supposing that Captain Nolan did express himself to Lord Lucan in the manner reported, Captain Nolan was not his Lordship's superior officer, and therefore it was not what he said, but what the written order commanded, that he was bound to obey. To say that Lord Lucan was influenced by Nolan's representations only gets him further into the mire, &c."

Lord HARDINGE, in the debate in the House of Lords, has expressed a similar opinion almost in the same words. The COMMANDER-INCHIEF has intimated that Lord LUCAN is rather to be censured than excused for acting on the dictum of an inferior officer, since "it shows that his decision to attack was taken, not upon any impression which he had of Lord RAGLAN's order, but from the fear which he entertained of aspersions from his officers and soldiers." And in his letter to the MINISTER OF WAR, Lord HARDINGE speaks still more decidedly :

"It is to be regretted that the Lieutenant-General, acting upon a misconception of a written order, did not show the order to Lord Cardigan, and that, influenced by the authoritative tone and disrespectful manner of the aide-decamp, he did not decide upon his own judgment.”

Thus, after an interval of three months, we find our opinion, delivered on a very imperfect knowledge of the transaction, sanctioned and endorsed by the high authority of the CoMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

Lord HARDINGE has very properly refused the Earl of LUCAN a court-martial. Though we are not so sure that, looking at the case as a whole, Lord LUCAN does not deserve to be put on his trial, yet, bearing in mind that the matter was passed over at the time, it would be contrary to all usage to take such a step. In insisting upon it, therefore, he is only acting in the same spirit that he did at Balaklava.

These remarks cannot be better concluded than by an extract from the eloquent speech of the Duke of RICHMOND, to whom, as a personal friend as well as an experienced soldier, Lord LUCAN appealed in the course of the debate:

"I am not going into the discussion of those points which have already been

touched upon, but I regret to hear acts, accusations, and private conversations brought forward in this house. I think my noble friend ought not to have lent the weight of his high character to the attacks which have been so unjustly made upon Lord Raglan, the man who landed the British army in the Crimea, who stormed the heights of Alma, who fought the battles of Balaklava and Inkermann, and who has done that for which every other man in this country who wishes for peace must feel deeply grateful; he has promoted and cemented more than any other man the firm alliance and brotherly feeling between this country and our brave and gallant ally. (Cheers.) My lords, I know that my noble friend did not wish to attack Lord Raglan, and no doubt he did not wish to attack Colonel Estcourt or Colonel Airey-officers with whom I have no personal acquaintance-but, I ask, is it right or is it just to lower these men in the opinion of the army by detailing those conversations? My noble friend, with respect to Colonel Airey, said he began in a sort of threatening tone, and then assumed a more diplomatic manner. I say that is not the way to teach the officers or men of the British army their duty, but it is the way to teach them to look down on men holding high and responsible situations. I go not into the question as to whether or not my noble friend misunderstood the order. He appealed to me, and, reading from the Queen's regulations, asked whether an officer is not bound to obey the order of an aide-de-camp? No man can doubt for a moment that he is so bound to obey it, but I can tell my noble friend what a most gallant general officer did in the Peninsular war -Major-General Crawfurd, who commanded the light division. One of the aides-de-camp, who brought him a written order, behaved pretty much as I am afraid this officer did-gave him his advice when to attack and where to attack. General Crawfurd's answer was,-"When General Crawfurd asks the opinion of Colonel A., he will have the goodness to give it, but not till then." Now, that is the way in which I should have acted in this instance. My noble friend says that he received a further order from Captain Nolan, besides the written order. Now, if that is the case-if my noble friend acted upon the verbal order-what, in Heaven's name, was the use of sending the written order at all? (Hear, hear.) The written order ought to have been the one attended to, and my noble friend ought to have disregarded what the aide-decamp said. Captain Nolan was a very brave and gallant officer, and it is far from my intention to say anything against him, but he was a man, above all others, who had written a book upon cavalry which contained the most fantastic notions as to cavalry being always able to destroy formed infantry. I should have said to that gentleman immediately, When I ask for your advice, give it to me; in the mean time, go back to your general and report.' As my noble friend has appealed to me, I have no hesitation in saying, as far as I can understand the matter, I should have looked to the written order, and that in advancing the cavalry I should not have read that order as he did. (Hear.)"

MR. W. S. LINDSAY AND THE WAR.-A nation under excitement is like a cauldron, which bubbles and bubbles and bubbles, till the scum comes to the top hence we find that the war, as it progresses, turns up all sorts of nobodies, and the House of Commons has now a whole troop of WHITBREADS. Not six, but sixty, RICHMONDS are in the field; and every great unknown who can hammer out a dozen words of bad grammar, puts up for a place in the Cabinet. A Mr. W. S. LINDSAY is one of the last candidates for renown. This worthy cit, whose gold has placed him in a position for which he was never destined by nature, but who seems to have no idea of this fact himself, has lately been reading homilies to the government, and the country, on the management of the public business, the army, the

navy, the treasury, and the administration in general. Nothing comes amiss to his universal genius; and he cannot even take a trip to Paris, without paying a domiciliary visit to the Minister of War, that he may return home, puffing with haste, to describe a map that was hung in the office, and show how easily the French Minister could move armies on his paper Europe. Much easier, Mr. LINDSAY, be assured, than he moves them on terra firma. As for transport by sea, Mr. LINDSAY himself, unless we are mistaken, has not been immaculate in this particular, and, on some such plaint, once made his appearance at a police office. In the present case, we can only say that the Admiralty acted wisely in not giving him the job-if that is what he is baying at. The machinery of our administrative departments has indeed become somewhat crank; but, let Mr. LINDSAY be assured that, to put it in order, we require, not the clumsy hand of a tinker, but the comprehensive genius of a WATT or a STEPHENSON.

SIR JOHN BURGOYNE.-Lord PANMURE has, as we expected, been obliged to disavow the sacrifice of Sir JOHN BURGOYNE, and it is now given out that the gallant General is recalled because his services are required at home. No doubt the great experience, judgment, and talents of Sir JOHN will be eminently useful in carrying out all the proposed new arrangements; but why was not this motive honestly stated in the first instance, instead of pretending to make him a scapegoat for the sins of the late Ministry? Such a man may well be wanted here, especially at the present juncture; but, admitting this, we maintain that his proper place is the Crimea. Lord RAGLAN, indeed, has shown how unwilling he is to part with him, by deferring the day of his departure, and the attack on Balaklava may cause his further detention; but, at present, it is understood that Sir JOHN may be expected in England during the ensuing week. That minister who has ordered him home has incurred a heavy responsibility, for which he will yet have to account, and, in the meantime, Sir JOHN'S loss will be too sensibly felt at the seat of war. The railway authorities especially will miss his friendly counsel, which they have always sought in every difficulty, and always promptly received; and it is to be apprehended that the more important works of the siege, which owe so much to his superintendence, will be retarded by his departure.

PROVISION FOR THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF SOLDIERS-The project to which we alluded in our last number, originated by Lieut.Colonel BEAMISH, K. H., High Sheriff of the city of Cork, for obtaining from Parliament a permanent provision for the widows of soldiers killed or disabled in battle, has been taken up very warmly in the sister kingdom, and addresses to Her MAJESTY have been adopted in various localities, strongly advocating the measure. It is one that should certainly command universal support; and Colonel BEAMISH deserves our thanks for the zeal and earnestness with which he has brought it forward. We hope to hear that he has obtained the co-operation of other distinguished officers.

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.

[With the view of promoting the interests of the Service, this department of the MAGAZINE is open to all authentic communications, and, therefore, the Editor cannot hold himself responsible for the opinions expressed.ED. U. S. MAG.]

EXCULPATION OF MAJOR MINTYRE.

To the Editor of the United Service Magazine.

Camp Poona, 29th December, 1854. Sir,-My attention was a few days ago called to an article in the UNITED SERVICE MAGAZINE for November, under the head-" Journals of the late Major Macready, Fourth Trip, 1832," reflecting on my conduct when employed as an assistant engineer in Ceylon, about twenty-two years ago; and, as the matter is there (falsely) represented, injurious to my character, even at the present day. The paragraph runs thus :-"Our object in this break was to see the proceedings at Mawanella, and look at Fort King; so, after chatting a little with Forbes, we rode down the hill, and crossing the Mahaoya, took a passing view of the piers of the bridge, with the workshops, made centring, &c., and that atrocity M'Intyre's house. I have just mentioned that the Mahateines (Mahahaina?) Hotel was his, and might have added that the liberal coach proprietors took it, and some old chairs, &c., from him for five hundred rix-dollars, so that he saw it was well to make the pioneers build him good houses. On this principle, when he arrived at Mawanella, instead of taking the house (a very nice one) of his predecessors, he found out it wanted a room; and thereupon set to work, with government bricks, chunam, and pioneers, and built as goodly a one, with its four new walls and all, as would have been desired by his Excellency the Governor, if he opined to practise pioneering; and, when he had built this noble room, he fell sick and came away, and, having given it a bad name, left it for the crows and kites, as no one else will live there. So that this young gentleman, instead of going into the house of the senior officer, who had gone before him, and setting to work, was paid 7s. 6d. daily for doing this new room, and diverting the Government's men and materials from the work they were to execute, and he to superintend."

Were I to pass unnoticed, even at this remote date, the transactions referred to in that statement, it might be supposed that they conveyed the truth, and the whole truth; but I trust I shall be able to show that the late Major Macready, by withholding a part of the truth in the case of the Mahahaina bungalow, has given a false colouring, and, consequently, attached a degree of criminality to that transaction which did not in reality exist, and, with respect to the Mawanella house, that he was greatly in error. The omission in the first instance, whether intentional or unintentional I cannot say, but in either case I consider it to be in the highest degree blameworthy, and I moreover trust, on inquiry, it will be found that the integrity of the young gentleman of Mahahaina and Mawanella was, twenty-two years ago, as irreproachable as it now exists in the old Major of thirty years' service.

The circumstances of the case, in so far as the Mahahaina bungalow was concerned, and of which I have, in most respects, a perfect recollection, are as follows

Immediately before my marriage in 1831 I was removed from Kogalle to Mahahaina. There was no bungalow of any description for the assistant engineer at the latter place, and as usual, and as sanctioned by Government, I commenced building one, but, in consequence of my approaching marriage, of a larger description than I would, under other circumstances, have erected. It consisted of three small rooms, instead of two. As the building was larger than I conceived I had a right to erect wholly at the Government expense, or rather with the Government labourers, I applied to the Government

agent of the district (the late Major Taylor, of the 78th Highlanders) for work-people (the number I do not exactly recollect, but I think thirty men), who were supplied to me, to assist the pioneers was allowed in carrying on the work. The doors and windows were furnished by contract, which, with the hire of the labourers, and every other outlay requisite, were paid for from my private purse: not one particle of Government material of any description was made use of. The bungalow was, what is usually termed, "wattle and daub," the trees cut in the immediate vicinity of the house, the mud taken from the spot on which it was erected, and the roof thatched. Government labourers (pioneers) were certainly made use of, but not in numbers beyond what I was at perfect liberty to employ.

When I was about to leave this place-the work under my superintendence having been completed-I received a communication from the late Mr. Turnour, the Revenue Commissioner of the Kandian Provinces, the exact terms of which I do not recollect: its purport, however, was, that it was proposed to convert my bungalow into an hotel; and, as he was aware I had expended some money in its erection, asking what compensation I would be satisfied with. In so far as I recollect, I named five hundred rix-dollars (£37 10s., English currency), which I received from him. I then considered-and do now that the transaction took place with the concurrence of Government, as without such sanction the bungalow could not have been appropriated as an hotel, or to any other purpose; and with this gentleman alone, in so far as I recollect, had I any communication on the subject. Compensation was unthought of, and unasked by me: it was proposed to be given, and I considered I was perfectly justified, under the circumstances, in accepting it.

Shortly after leaving Mahahaina, I was ordered to that atrocious place Mawanella, and most justly may it be so termed ; but not in so far as any

act of mine was concerned.

It is untrue that I did not take the house of my predecessor at that place -I never occupied any other; but as he was a bachelor, and I a married man, with a child, I found there was not sufficient accommodation in it for my family, and I did build an additional room; but so far from its being built with Government bricks and chunam (lime), or other Government material, it was composed of "wattle and daub," and the only bricks in its composition were some hundreds which formed the floor, and which I was permitted to make use of by the superintending engineer-being a small portion of several hundreds of thousands which had been made, before I arrived at the station, for the arches of the bridge in progress, and condemned as perfectly useless for any such purpose; this work was performed by the pioneers. I never occupied the room, having been driven from the place by severe illness about the time it was completed, and shortly afterwards sent to another station; but I did not sell this bungalow to the liberal coach proprietors. No; I left it for the next unfortunate victim who might be doomed to breathe the noxious air, which had driven every one of his predecessors from this detestable place. The thought of giving Mawanella a bad name is too absurd; its climate was much too notorious to be aggravated by any statement of mine, and hardly earned indeed was the paltry 7s. 6d. a-day received by myself and others. The most ordinary English mechanic would have unhesitatingly refused double this amount to have served in such a place.

I trust I have now said enough to divest both those atrocious transactions of all their atrocity; and that the imputations cast upon my character will prove as perishable as the despicable "wattle and daub" erections which led to them; and I beg you will take the earliest opportunity of giving the same publicity to this letter which you did to the article I have quoted.

I trust you will see the justice of complying with this request. I ad